Storage and utilization of slide presentation slides

ABSTRACT

Slide presentation files may be separated into one or more individual slide files, and the one or more individual slide files may be stored in a remote or local slide library. Stored individual slide files are populated with metadata for allowing subsequent search and location of individual slide files. A synchronization relationship may be established between a stored slide file and a copy of the stored slide file used in a slide presentation document. As updates are made to the stored slide file, a user of a copy of the stored slide file may be informed of and provided changes made to the original slide file via the synchronization relationship.

BACKGROUND

Computer and software users have grown accustomed to user-friendlysoftware applications that help them write, calculate, organize, preparepresentations, send and receive electronic mail, make music, and thelike. For example, modern electronic word processing applications allowusers to prepare a variety of useful documents. Modern spreadsheetapplications allow users to enter, manipulate, and organize data. Modernelectronic slide presentation applications allow users to create avariety of slide presentations containing text, pictures, data or otheruseful objects. Modern database applications allow users to store,organize and exchange large amounts of data.

Documents created by such applications typically retain a good deal ofvalue after their initial use. Such documents may be reused entirely, orportions of such documents may be used in other documents. The reuse ofentire documents or portions of documents is a common and valuablepractice by many information workers who wish to save time and maketheir work more efficient by reusing previous work product.Unfortunately, reuse of individual or groups of slide presentationapplication slides is often difficult and cumbersome. Finding aparticular slide from a given presentation may require a user to openseveral presentation documents and peruse all slides contained in theopen documents until a desired slide is found. If a desired slide islocated, use of the slide is often difficult. A user may be forced toleave her open slide presentation, look for the desired presentationfile, open a located file, look for a specific slide, copy the specificslide, and then return to her slide presentation to paste the copiedslide. This process is tedious and time consuming.

In addition, after a user has located and has used a given slide from aslide presentation, a problem often arises around maintenance of theslide. For example, if a side used by the user is updated with new dataor information after the user copies the slide, the user will have noway of knowing she should update the slide. For another example, if theoriginal slide contained an error that was later discovered andcorrected by the slide author or editor, the user has no way of knowingof the error or of the correction unless she is contacted regarding theslide correction or unless she discovers and corrects the errorindependently.

It is with respect to these and other considerations that the presentinvention has been made.

SUMMARY

This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in asimplified form that are further described below in the DetailedDescription. This summary is not intended to identify key features oressential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended asan aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.

Embodiments of the present invention solve the above and other problemsby providing methods, systems, and computer products for storing andutilizing individual and/or groups of slides from slide presentationdocuments. According to one aspect of the invention, individual slidesmay be isolated from a slide presentation and then may be published to aslide library. A document-shredding component is used for separating agiven slide presentation into individual slide files and for storing oneor more individual slide files in the slide library for subsequent use.As each individual slide is generated into a single file, it is storedto the slide library, and the individual slide file is populated withmetadata to allow the slide file to be easily located during asubsequent search of stored slide files.

According to aspects of the invention, a slide file may be searched,located and copied from the slide library for use in a given slidepresentation document. A search of the slide library may be made at theslide library via a slide file reuse user interface. Located slide filesin the slide library may be copied and edited. One or more slide filesmay be sent from the slide library to a slide presentation document forgenerating a new slide presentation or for editing an existing slidepresentation. A search of the slide library also may be conducted froman open slide presentation application document. Thus, if a user ispreparing a slide presentation, she may search the slide library fromher open slide presentation document and automatically insert a locatedslide file.

According to another aspect of the invention, upon inserting a locatedslide file into a slide presentation, a slide synchronizationrelationship may be established between the original slide in the slidelibrary and the copy of the original slide now in the slidepresentation. Once the slide synchronization relationship isestablished, the user/preparer/editor of the presentation may beinformed of updates or changes to the original slide, and the user hasthe option of incorporating the new or updated content into herpresentation.

These and other features and advantages, which characterize the presentinvention, will be apparent from a reading of the following detaileddescription and a review of the associated drawings. It is to beunderstood that both the foregoing general description and the followingdetailed description are explanatory only and are not restrictive of theinvention as claimed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary computing operating environment forembodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a simplified block diagram illustrating a distributedcomputing environment according to embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a simplified block diagram illustrating the publication ofindividual slide files from a slide presentation to a slide library.

FIG. 4 illustrates a computer screen display of a slide publication userinterface for publishing one or more slide files to a slide library.

FIG. 5 illustrates a computer screen display of a slide publication userinterface for publishing one or more slide files to a slide library.

FIG. 6 illustrates a computer screen display of a user interface forresolving duplicate or conflicting slide files saved to a slide library.

FIG. 7 illustrates a computer screen display of a user interface foraccessing one or more slide files stored in a slide library.

FIG. 8 illustrates a computer screen display of a user interface forcreating a slide library storage site.

FIG. 9 illustrates a computer screen display of a user interface forcreating a slide library storage site.

FIG. 10 is a logical flow diagram showing an illustrative routine forestablishing a slide synchronization relationship between an originalslide file and a copied slide file.

FIG. 11 is a logical flow diagram showing an illustrative routine forchecking a synchronized slide file for content changes according toembodiments of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

As briefly described above, embodiments of the present invention aredirected to methods, systems, and computer products for storing andusing slide presentation slides. According to embodiments of the presentinvention, slide presentation files may be separated into one or moreindividual slide files, and the one or more individual slide files maybe stored in a remote or local slide library. Stored individual slidefiles are populated with metadata for allowing subsequent search andlocation of individual slide files. A synchronization relationship maybe established between a stored slide file and a copy of the storedslide file used in a slide presentation document. As updates are made tothe stored slide file, a user of a copy of the stored slide file may beinformed of and provided changes made to the original slide file via thesynchronization relationship.

In the following detailed description, references are made to theaccompanying drawings that form a part hereof, and in which are shown byway of illustrations specific embodiments or examples. These embodimentsmay be combined, other embodiments may be utilized, and structuralchanges may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of thepresent invention. The following detailed description is therefore notto be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the present inventionis defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

Referring now to the drawings, in which like numerals refer to likeelements through the several figures, aspects of the present inventionand an exemplary computing operating environment will be described. FIG.1 and the following discussion are intended to provide a brief, generaldescription of a suitable computing environment in which the inventionmay be implemented. While the invention will be described in the generalcontext of program modules that execute in conjunction with anapplication program that runs on an operating system on a personalcomputer, those skilled in the art will recognize that the invention mayalso be implemented in combination with other program modules.

Generally, program modules include routines, programs, components, datastructures, and other types of structures that perform particular tasksor implement particular abstract data types. Moreover, those skilled inthe art will appreciate that the invention may be practiced with othercomputer system configurations, including hand-held devices,multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumerelectronics, minicomputers, mainframe computers, and the like. Theinvention may also be practiced in distributed computing environmentswhere tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linkedthrough a communications network. In a distributed computingenvironment, program modules may be located in both local and remotememory storage devices.

Embodiments of the invention may be implemented as a computer process(method), a computing system, or as an article of manufacture, such as acomputer program product or computer readable media. The computerprogram product may be a computer storage media readable by a computersystem and encoding a computer program of instructions for executing acomputer process. The computer program product may also be a propagatedsignal on a carrier readable by a computing system and encoding acomputer program of instructions for executing a computer process.

With reference to FIG. 1, one exemplary system for implementing theinvention includes a computing device, such as computing device 100. Ina basic configuration, the computing device 100 typically includes atleast one processing unit 102 and system memory 104. Depending on theexact configuration and type of computing device, the system memory 104may be volatile (such as RAM), non-volatile (such as ROM, flash memory,etc.) or some combination of the two. System memory 104 typicallyincludes an operating system 105 suitable for controlling the operationof a networked personal computer, such as the WINDOWS® operating systemsfrom MICROSOFT CORPORATION of Redmond, Wash. The system memory 104 mayalso include one or more software applications 106 and may includeprogram data 107. This basic configuration is illustrated in FIG. 1 bythose components within dashed line 108.

According to embodiments of the invention, the application 106 maycomprise many types of programs, such as an electronic mail program, acalendaring program, an Internet browsing program, and the like. Anexample of such programs is OUTLOOK® manufactured by MICROSOFTCORPORATION. The application 106 may also comprise amultiple-functionality software application for providing many othertypes of functionalities. Such a multiple-functionality application mayinclude a number of program modules, such as a word processing program,a spreadsheet program, a slide presentation program, a database program,and the like. An example of such a multiple-functionality application isOFFICE™ manufactured by MICROSOFT CORPORATION. According to embodimentsof the present invention, the application 120 is representative of aslide presentation application for generating a variety of slidepresentation documents. An example slide presentation application 120 isPOWERPOINT® manufactured by MICROSOFT CORPORATION. As described indetail below, according to one embodiment, the slide presentationapplication 120 includes a document-shredding component for separating aslide presentation document into one or more individual slide files andfor publishing the individual slide files to a slide library.

The computing device 100 may have additional features or functionality.For example, the computing device 100 may also include additional datastorage devices (removable and/or non-removable) such as, for example,magnetic disks, optical disks, or tape. Such additional storage isillustrated in FIG. 1 by removable storage 109 and non-removable storage110. Computer storage media may include volatile and nonvolatile,removable and non-removable media implemented in any method ortechnology for storage of information, such as computer readableinstructions, data structures, program modules, or other data. Systemmemory 104, removable storage 109 and non-removable storage 110 are allexamples of computer storage media. Computer storage media includes, butis not limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memorytechnology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (DVD) or other opticalstorage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage orother magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used tostore the desired information and which can be accessed by computingdevice 100. Any such computer storage media may be part of device 100.Computing device 100 may also have input device(s) 112 such as keyboard,mouse, pen, voice input device, touch input device, etc. Outputdevice(s) 114 such as a display, speakers, printer, etc. may also beincluded. These devices are well known in the art and need not bediscussed at length here.

The computing device 100 may also contain communication connections 116that allow the device to communicate with other computing devices 118,such as over a network in a distributed computing environment, forexample, an intranet or the Internet. Communication connection 116 isone example of communication media. Communication media may typically beembodied by computer readable instructions, data structures, programmodules, or other data in a modulated data signal, such as a carrierwave or other transport mechanism, and includes any information deliverymedia. The term “modulated data signal” means a signal that has one ormore of its characteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encodeinformation in the signal. By way of example, and not limitation,communication media includes wired media such as a wired network ordirect-wired connection, and wireless media such as acoustic, RF,infrared and other wireless media. The term computer readable media asused herein includes both storage media and communication media.

FIG. 2 is a simplified block diagram illustrating a distributedcomputing environment for operation of embodiments of the presentinvention. As will be described in detail below, individual slidescomprising one or more slide presentations may be stored as individualfiles in a slide library 230. The slide library 230 may be maintained ata remote server 225 for access by one or more computing devices 100,100A via a distributed computing environment such as the Internet 210 oran intranet 215. As should be appreciated, however, the slide library230 may be stored locally on a local computing device 100, 100A.Additionally, the slide library 230 may be operated as part of a sharedservices system with which multiple users may store, retrieve and shareinformation in a collaborative working environment. An example sharedservices system suitable for use in accordance with embodiments of thepresent invention, is SHAREPOINT® manufactured by MICROSOFT CORPORATIONof Redmond, Wash. However, as should be appreciated, any system suitablefor allowing storage, searching and retrieval of one or more individualslide files according to embodiments of the present invention may beutilized for maintaining the slide library 230. According to embodimentsof the invention, a user operating from a first computing device 100 maystore individual slide files to the slide library 230. Once individualslide files are stored in the slide library 230, the first user maysearch for and retrieve individual slide files from the slide library230, or a second user operating from a second computing device 100A maysearch, retrieve and utilize individual slide files maintained in theslide library 230 if the second user has access privileges to the slidelibrary 230.

Publication of Presentation Slides to a Slide Library

The following description of FIG. 3 provides a general architecturaldescription of the process for storing individual slides of a givenslide presentation document as individual files in a slide library fromwhich individual slide files may be subsequently retrieved and utilizedaccording to embodiments of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 3,a source slide presentation 310 is illustrative of a slide presentationdocument that has been generated or is being currently edited orotherwise processed by a given user. For example, the user may begenerating, editing or processing a slide presentation for a work orschool project. The example slide presentation 310 is made up of one ormore individual slides 315, 320. Each slide includes a unique slideidentification number, for example “Slide ID: 001.” The slideidentification number may be used according to embodiments of thepresent invention for subsequently separating an individual slide filefrom the slide presentation and for identifying individual slides oncethey are stored to a slide library 230.

Referring still to FIG. 3, if the user desires to publish one or more ofthe individual slides of her slide presentation 310 to a slide library230, the user may launch a slide publication user interface 330 forselecting one or more slides for publication (i.e., storage) in theslide library. As described in detail below, a document-shreddingcomponent 340 prepares each individual slide file and presentsinformation in the user interface 330 for each slide file. After theuser selects one or more individual slides for storage in the slidelibrary 230, the document-shredding component 340 separates the slidepresentation into individual slides, and sends selected slide files forstorage in the slide library 230. For example, referring to FIG. 3, afirst slide file 350 is generated by the document-shredding componentthat includes a single slide presentation document 365 containing asingle slide file 375. A second slide file 360 is extracted from theslide presentation 310 by the document-shredding component to generate asecond slide presentation document 370 containing a single slide file380.

As described above with reference to FIG. 3, in order to publishindividual slides of a slide presentation document to a slide library230, a slide publication user interface 330 is launched for selectingindividual slides comprising a slide presentation for publication to theslide library 230. Referring now to FIG. 4, according to one embodimentof the present invention, the slide publication user interface 330 maybe launched from a slide presentation application 120. That is, if auser is presently utilizing a slide presentation application 120 forgenerating, editing, or otherwise utilizing a given slide presentationdocument, the slide publication user interface 330 may be launched fromthe slide presentation application for storing one or more slide filesto the slide library.

Launching the slide publication user interface 330 may be in response toselection of a button or other control situated in a user interface ofthe slide presentation application 120 associated with the functionalityof publishing individual slides to a slide library. For example,selection of a toolbar command may cause a drop-down menu with which auser may selectively add, delete or edit slides of a given slidepresentation and with which a user may select a control for publishingslides to a slide library 230 by launching the slide publication userinterface 330. Additionally, a “publish slides” button or control may beincluded in a context menu that may be launched upon selection of anobject in a given presentation slide followed by a secondary selection,for example, a right mouse click. As should be appreciated, otherlayouts and designs of user interface controls may be utilized forpresenting a selectable button or control for launching the slidepublication user interface 330 according to embodiments of the presentinvention. The slide publication user interface 330 is for purposes ofexample only and is not restrictive of different user interface layoutsand designs that may be used in accordance with embodiments of thepresent invention.

According to an alternative embodiment, the slide publicationfunctionality described herein may be part of a stand alone softwareapplication having sufficient computer executable instructions forpublishing one or more slides of a selected slide presentation to aslide library 230. According to this alternative embodiment, the slidepublication application allows for selection of a given slidepresentation from a local or remote storage location. Once a given slidepresentation is selected via the slide publication application,individual slides from the selected slide presentation may be publishedto a slide library 230. As should be appreciated, the slide publicationfunctionality of the present invention whether operated via a slidepresentation application 120, or as a stand alone slide publicationapplication, may be operated at a local computing device 100, 100A, orthe slide publication functionality may be operated remotely at a server225 in association with the slide library 230.

Referring to FIG. 4, once the slide publication user interface 330 islaunched, the document-shredding component, described below, populatesthe user interface 330 with information representative of each slidefile that may be generated from the selected slide presentation. Athumbnail column, including thumbnail images 420 for each slidecomprising an associated slide presentation, is populated in the userinterface 330. According to one embodiment, the thumbnail images arebitmap or other suitable images dynamically generated by thedocument-shredding component for each associated slide. The thumbnailcolumn is visible by default and is always present in the user interface330. As the thumbnail column is widened, the thumbnail images 420 may beresized to scale according to the widened column space. Alternatively,if the width of the thumbnail column is reduced below a prescribedminimum size, for example, a thumbnail size of 12×9 pixels, thethumbnail images may be removed from display. The sorting order for thedisplayed thumbnail images 420 may be set to the presentation slideorder by default. Alternatively, the sorting order of the thumbnailimages 420 may be reversed by selecting the thumbnail column header.

Adjacent to each thumbnail image is a checkbox 410, 415 for selecting anassociated slide for publication to the slide library 230. According toembodiments of the present invention, the state of the check boxes 410,415 may be varied depending on how the slide publication user interface330 is launched. For example, if a single slide is selected in a givenslide presentation, then the check box for the single slide will bechecked by default. On the other hand, if the slide publication userinterface 330 is launched from a top-level command menu while no slidepresentation is open, no slides will be selected by default. If amulti-select is committed from the slide presentation applicationdocument, and the slide publication user interface 330 is launched froma context menu, as described above, the same slide set will be checkedin the associated check boxes 410, 415.

A file name column 425 adjacent to the thumbnail images 420 allows forautomatic or manual population of a file name for each selected slide.According to one embodiment, the file name for a given slide isauto-populated by the document-shredding component (DSC), describedbelow, according to the name or title of the associated presentationfollowed by an identification number for the associated slide, forexample, “Microsoft Office System_(—)001.” The user may manually editthe file name information if a more descriptive or different file nameis desired. For example, according to one embodiment, mousing over orotherwise focusing on the file name field for a given slide reveals anedit box with which edits to the file name may be made. Selecting duringthe mouse-over sets an insertion point in the field to allow a user toedit the field as desired. According to one embodiment, the file nameentry is a required field. Accordingly, if a user attempts to delete thefile name and leave the file name field empty, the field will revert toits previous file name state.

A description column 430 is illustrated adjacent to the file name columnfor populating the associated slide file with descriptive informationthat may subsequently be used for searching the associated slide file.According to one embodiment, the description column is visible bydefault and is always present in the user interface 330. The descriptioncolumn text for a given slide is auto-populated to include a title forthe associated slide, if available. If the slide title is not available,the field will be empty as a default condition. As described above forthe file name column, text contained in the description column for agiven slide may be edited by user action. For example, mousing over orotherwise focusing on the description field for a given slide reveals anedit box with which edits may be made to the associated description.Selecting during the mouse-over or other focus on a given descriptionfield sets an insertion point in the field for allowing edits to thetext of the description. As will be described below, informationgenerated or entered for the file name and description for an individualslide is populated into metadata for the subsequently generated slidefile that may be used for searching for the slide file from the slidelibrary 230.

As described above, one or more individual slides may be selected forpublication to a selected slide library 230 by selecting one or morecheck boxes 410, 415. Alternatively, the user may select all of theslides comprising a given slide presentation to be published to theslide library 230. A browse function 455 and a “publish to” field 445are provided for browsing to one of one or more publication sites withinthe slide library 230. As should be appreciated, the slide library 230may include a number of different storage sites for storing differenttypes and/or categories of slide files. For example, the slide library230 may include a folder for slide files associated with a firstdepartment of a business, a second folder may contain slides associatedwith a second department of the business, and so on. Once the userbrowses to, or otherwise enters, a particular slide library site, thepublish button 450 may be selected for publishing the selected one ormore slides to the selected slide library site. If desired, the “launchslide library after publishing” control 460 may be selected to allow theuser to automatically launch a user interface for reviewing the contentsof the selected slide library site after publication of the selectedslide files to the selected slide library site.

Referring still to FIG. 4, near the lower right-hand corner of the userinterface 330 is a “create a new slide library” control 465. Accordingto embodiments of the present invention, if the present user has notcreated a slide library site for publishing the selected slide files,the “create new slide library” control may be selected for launching afolder selection dialog or user interface for allowing the selection ofa site or for entering a path address at which the selected slide fileswill be published. Once a site is selected and confirmed by the user, a“create slide library” page may be launched as illustrated and describedbelow with reference to FIG. 8. Once the user completes the form forcreating a new slide library for publication of the selected slides, the“publish to” field 445 will be populated with a path to the newlycreated slide library location.

Referring now to FIG. 5, in addition to launching the user interface 330from within an open slide presentation application 120, it also may belaunched directly from a slide library site at the server 225 or at anyother location at which the slide library is maintained. If the slidepublication user interface 330 is launched from the slide library site,the user interface 330 will include the “presentation” field 510 shownat the top of the user interface 330 illustrated in FIG. 5. The field510 is then populated with a path to a source slide presentation filethat the user desires to separate into individual slide files forpublishing to the slide library, as described herein. Once a given slidepresentation path is entered or browsed to using the presentation field510, the associated slide information including the slide thumbnails,file names and descriptions are populated into the user interface 330,as described above.

During publication of one or more slides to a given slide library site,as described herein, a collision may occur between two slides bearingthe exact slide file name. That is, a user may attempt to publish aslide file to a selected slide library site bearing the exact same filename and identification number as another slide file already stored atthe same slide library site. If such a collision of slide file namesoccurs, a “confirm slide replace” dialog 600, illustrated in FIG. 6, maybe presented to the user for handling the situation. If only a singlefile collision occurs, the dialog will provide a thumbnail 615 showingthe presently stored slide file and providing information regarding theauthor or editor of the slide file and the date and time of the lastmodification. A thumbnail 620 showing the slide file that the userpresently is attempting to load to the selected slide library site isshown along with information regarding the author/editor of the slidefile and information regarding the date and time of the lastmodification. The user is then allowed to replace the present slide filewith the new slide file by selecting the “replace” button 625, or theuser may skip the replacement by selecting the “skip” button 630 suchthat the new slide is not entered into the slide library site as areplacement for the existing slide file.

If more than a single collision occurs, information may be provided inthe user interface 600 that a number of slides have been identified withthe same file name. Thumbnails for the first pair of colliding fileswill be presented, as illustrated in FIG. 6, to allow the user to decidewhether to replace or skip the new slide file. Once the user makes adetermination for the first pair of colliding files, the second pair ofcolliding files will be presented, and so on until the user has replacedor skipped all colliding slide files. Alternatively, a “replace all”button or control may be provided for allowing the user to replace allexisting slide files with corresponding colliding slide files, ifdesired. Likewise, a “cancel” or “skip all” button or control may beprovided for allowing the user to cancel the storage of the selectedslide files to the selected slide library site.

Referring back to FIG. 3, as briefly described above, adocument-shredding component (DSC) 340 is responsible for breaking orshredding a selected slide presentation document into one or moreindividual slide files for publication to a slide library 230. That is,each slide file selected for publication to the slide library isindividually replicated by the document-shredding component (DSC) fromthe slide presentation document to a single slide presentation documentin memory. According to embodiments of the present invention, thedocument-shredding component is a software application module containingsufficient computer executable instructions for parsing a selected slidepresentation document into individual slide files and for populating theslide publication user interface 330 and each individual slide file withthumbnail images of each individual slide and with file name anddescription information as described above with reference to FIGS. 4 and5. Other data that may be populated into each slide file includes anauthor, editor or modifier of the associated slide, whether the slidecontains animation properties, the date on which the slide file isgenerated and stored, and the like. According to embodiments of thepresent invention, the document-shredding component is triggered byselection of a given presentation document for publication, as describedabove.

In response to triggering the document-shredding component, the slidepublication user interface 330 is launched, the thumbnail images aregenerated, and the file name fields and description fields areauto-populated, as described above. For each selected slide presented inthe user interface 330, the document-shredding component generates a newfile. Metadata for each generated slide file is populated by the DSCwith data associated with each slide file. For example, the metadata fora given slide file includes the file name, file description, path togenerated thumbnail image, author/editor identification for theassociated slide, date of slide file generation, and the like. Eachselected slide file is then written to memory at the selected slidelibrary site with the appropriate metadata that subsequently may be usedfor locating each slide file during a search.

Slide Libraries

As described above, individual slide files are generated from a selectedslide presentation document and are published to a slide library site bythe document-shredding component. According to embodiments of thepresent invention, the slide library 230 includes one or more storagesites for storing individual slide files generated by the DSC. Referringnow to FIG. 7, a user interface 700 is illustrated for reviewing andutilizing the slide file contents stored in a given slide file site.Along the left side of the user interface 700 a user may select one ormore views for presenting slide files contained in a selected slidelibrary site. For example, the “all slides” 715 control may be selectedfor presenting all slides available in a given slide library site. Othercontrols, such as the “view all folders” control, may be selected forviewing information in all or additional storage folders contained in agiven slide library site.

The user interface 700 presents information for each associated slidefile in rows of data. As illustrated in FIG. 7, each row is divided intocolumns of metadata associated with each slide file. A “thumbnail”column includes a thumbnail image for each slide file. A “presentation”column 730 includes a title or description of a slide presentationdocument from which the associated slide was received. A “description”column 735 includes a description for the slide file. A “modified by”column 740 includes an identification of the author/editor/modifier wholast modified the associated slide file. A “last modified” column 745includes a date associated with the last modification of the associatedslide file. An “animation” column 750 identifies whether the associatedslide file includes animation properties. A “number of times used”column 755 provides a number of times the associated slide file has beencopied from the slide library site by one or more users. The “file name”column 760 includes the file name for the associated slide file.Additionally, other columns of data, for example, a “publish date”column may be provided for providing information as to when anassociated slide file was published to the selected slide library site.

According to one embodiment, slide files displayed in the user interface700 may be sorted by selecting the column headers illustrated in theuser interface 700. For example, the slide files may be sorted by “lastmodified” by selecting the “last modified” file header. Likewise, theslide files may be selected by “modified by” by selecting the “modifiedby” header, and so on. Alternatively, a “filter” button or control 790may be selected for sorting the displayed files according to additionalfiltering properties. In addition, other views may be selected for theuser interface 700. For example, a view may be selected for showing onlythe thumbnail images for each of the slide files in a given slidelibrary site. Or, a view may be selected for showing only file names andassociated data for each of the slide files in a given slide librarysite. As should be appreciated, a number of different views may begenerated with different types and amounts of displayed data forindividual slide files.

Referring still to FIG. 7, slide files may be added to a given slidelibrary site by selecting the “add slide” control 780. Selecting the“add slide” control may provide the option of adding a slide file from aslide presentation document by launching the slide publication userinterface 330 and by selecting a slide from a presentation document forpublication to the slide library site by the DSC. Alternatively, a newslide may be added to the selected slide library site from another slidelibrary site. A “new folder” button 785 allows for creating a new folderor site in the slide library to which one or more new slide files may bestored. One or more slide files from a selected slide library site maybe deleted by selecting the “delete” button 795 in association withselected slide files.

As described above, once individual slide files are stored in the slidelibrary 230, they may be retrieved from the slide library 230 accordingto different means. For example, a user presently operating a slidepresentation application in which the user is generating or editing aslide presentation document may decide that an additional slide isneeded, and the user may decide to review the contents of one or moreslide library sites for a stored slide that will fulfill the user'spresent slide requirement. According to one embodiment, the user mayselect an “insert slide file” button or other similar control from theuser's slide presentation application user interface. An additionalbutton or control may then be provided to allow the user to insert a newslide from a slide library site. In response, the user interface 700 maybe automatically launched by the user's slide presentation applicationwithout requiring the user to close the present slide presentationdocument. Once the user interface 700 is launched, the user may browseto a given slide library site of interest to the user. In order tobrowse to a given slide library site, the user may enter or select frompreviously entered slide library site addresses in the address field710. For example, if the user is preparing a slide presentationregarding sales forecasts for a given sales department, the user maybrowse to a slide library site associated with that department.

Once the user has browsed to or selected a desired slide library sitefrom which a desired slide file may be selected, the user may enter oneor more keywords into the search field 775 for locating a particularslide file. For example, the user may enter a given presentation title,descriptive words, the name of a modifier/editor/author of the slidefile, or any other information that has been stored with the slide filemetadata, including text from the associated slide that may be used forsearching for a particular slide file. After the user has entered one ormore keywords and executed a search, slide files contained in theselected slide library site responsive to the executed search aredisplayed in the user interface 700. Alternatively, a user may selectthat all slides contained in the selected slide library site should bedisplayed from which the user may select one or more slide files forentry into her slide presentation document.

If the user locates a desired slide file, the user may select the checkbox 720 associated with the desired slide file. The user may then selecta button or control such as the “send to PowerPoint” button 797 forsending the selected slide file to the user's slide presentationdocument. In response, the selected slide file will be inserted into theuser's slide presentation document as desired. As should be appreciated,if the user selects more than one slide file for insertion into theslide presentation document, multiple slide files will be inserted intothe slide presentation document as selected from the slide library site.

Alternatively, a new slide presentation document may be generated byselecting one or more slide files directly from a selected slide librarysite via the user interface 700. According to this embodiment, the userinterface 700 may be launched in association with a selected slidelibrary site. After a user selects one or more slide files, as describedabove, the user may select the “send to PowerPoint” button 797, and aslide presentation application 120 will automatically launch andpopulate a new slide presentation document with the selected slide filesin the order in which the slide files are displayed in the userinterface 700.

In addition to retrieving slide files stored in a given slide librarysite, slide files stored in a slide library site may be updated ormodified by users having permissions for updating individual slidefiles. In order to update a given slide, the associated slide librarysite is browsed to in the same manner as is done for retrieving a givenslide file. After a slide file for which edits are required or desiredis selected, an edit control or button may be selected from the userinterface 700 for editing the selected slide file using a slidepresentation application. Once the desired slide is selected forediting, the slide is automatically marked as being checked out and isopened by the selected slide presentation application.

After the selected slide file is opened by the slide presentationapplication, the slide may be edited in the same manner as any slide maybe edited according to the functionality of the associated slidepresentation application. When changes made to the slide in the slidepresentation application are saved, the changes automatically overwritethe associated slide file in the associated slide library site.According to one embodiment of the present invention, a slide versioningsystem is provided so that each version of an updated slide ismaintained to allow a user to utilize a previous version of a givenslide so that updating the given slide does not deny access to otherusers of a previous version of the slide.

According to embodiments of the present invention, slide librarymaintenance may be performed by users having proper credentials foraccessing and making changes to slide library sites. As described above,when slide files are published from a slide presentation document to anew slide library site, the user may select to create a new slidelibrary site in the slide library 230 at which the selected slide fileswill be stored. According to embodiments of the present invention, a“create slide library” link may be populated on a given slide librarysite for allowing the creation of a new slide library page. Or, asillustrated in FIG. 4, a “create new slide library” link 465 may beprovided on the user interface 330 for creating a new slide library siteduring publication of one or more slide files to the slide library.

According to embodiments, selection of a “create slide library” linkfrom one or more user interfaces launches the user interface 800,illustrated in FIG. 8, for allowing the creation of a new slide librarysite for storing one or more slide files, as described herein. At the“create page” user interface 800, a user may select the slide librariescontrol 810 for creating a slide library for containing one or moreslide files, as described herein. In response to selecting the slidelibraries control 810, the user interface 900, illustrated in FIG. 9, isprovided with which a new slide library site may be created. A name anddescription section 915 is illustrated in which a name field 920 isprovided for entering a name for the new slide library site. Adescription field 925 is provided for entering a description of the newslide library site. A navigation section 930 allows for the selection ofnavigation properties to be applied to the new slide library site, forexample, allowing the new slide library site to be displayed on aquick-launch bar. A slide version section 940 is provided for allowing auser to selectively determine whether versioning will apply to modifiedslide files in the newly created slide library site, as described above.Selection of the “create” button 950 generates or instantiates the newslide library site.

Synchronization of Slides in Presentation Documents with CorrespondingSlide Library Files

According to another embodiment of the present invention, once a givenslide file is inserted into a slide presentation document from a slidelibrary site, a synchronization relationship may be established betweenthe original slide file contained in the slide library site and the copyof the original slide file now contained in a slide presentationdocument. In order to establish the synchronization relationship, theslide presentation application encodes a path into the slidepresentation document between the copy of the original slide fileinserted into the presentation and the original slide file contained inthe slide library site. A date stamp associated with the lastmodification date of the original slide file is also encoded into theslide presentation document along with the path data. Accordingly, alink is established between the original slide file in the slide librarysite and the copy of the original slide file in the slide presentationdocument.

Once the synchronization relationship is established, the slidepresentation application monitors the modification state of the originalslide file contained in the slide library site by following the path tothe original slide library file and by comparing a present modificationdate stamp with the last modification date stamp associated with theoriginal slide file. If a present modification date stamp associatedwith an original slide file is newer than a last modification datestamp, the slide presentation application 120 may determine whether anew version of the original slide file is now available.

According to one embodiment, each time a slide presentation applicationdocument is opened, a prompt is provided to the user to query the useras to whether the synchronization relationships between slides in theslide presentation document and corresponding slides in the slidelibrary should be checked for updates. According to another embodiment,a check of the slide library for updates for any synchronized slides isperformed automatically. In either case, if a new version of theoriginal slide file is available, the slide presentation applicationnotifies a user that the original slide file has been modified orotherwise updated since the original slide file was first copied to theslide presentation document. A slide update dialog or user interface maybe provided to the user to allow the user to review changes made in theoriginal slide file. A user interface similar to the user interface 600described above may be provided in which a thumbnail image of the new orupdated original slide is provided showing changes to the originalcontent or showing new content. The user interface or dialog provided tothe user may then provide one or more buttons or controls for allowingthe user to act on updates to the original slide file in the context ofan open slide presentation document. That is, the user may be allowed toreplace the slide file contained in the slide presentation document witha new copy of the slide file contained in the slide library site alongwith the accompanying changes and/or new content. Alternatively, theuser may elect to skip or otherwise ignore changes made to the originalslide file contained in the slide library site.

According to an alternate embodiment, the user may add a copy of theupdated slide to the slide presentation document in addition to theolder slide contained in the slide presentation document so that theuser may see both versions of the slide while the user is editing thedocument. When the copy of the updated slide is added to the slidepresentation document, a synchronization relationship is establishedbetween the updated slide in the document and the corresponding updatedslide in the slide library.

FIG. 10 is a logical flow diagram showing an illustrative routine forestablishing a slide synchronization relationship between an originalslide file and a copied slide file. The routine 1000 begins at startblock 1005 and proceeds to block 1010 where a selected slide file isreceived from a selected slide library site for insertion into a slidepresentation document. At block 1015, a determination is made as towhether a synchronization relationship has been established for theselected slide file for synchronizing a copy of the slide file to beinserted in the slide presentation document with the original slide filecontained in the slide library site. If no synchronization relationshiphas been established, the routine proceeds to block 1030, and theselected slide file is inserted into the slide presentation documentwithout synchronization between the copy of the slide file inserted intothe slide presentation document with the original slide file containedin the slide library site.

Referring back to block 1015, if a synchronization relationship has beenestablished, the routine proceeds to block 1020, and a copy of theselected slide file is inserted in the slide presentation document, asdesired. At block 1025, a path and last modification timestamp areembedded into the slide file inserted into the slide presentationdocument for allowing the slide presentation application to monitor themodification state of the original slide file in the slide library siteby following the embedded slide path and by comparing the presenttimestamp associated with the original slide file in the slide librarysite with the last modified timestamp embedded into the slide fileinserted into the slide presentation document. The routine ends at block1095.

FIG. 11 is a logical flow diagram showing an illustrative routine forchecking a synchronized slide file for content changes according toembodiments of the present invention. The routine 1100 begins at startblock 1105 and proceeds to block 1110 where a slide presentationdocument is opened and where at least one slide file in the slidepresentation document is synchronized with a corresponding slide filecontained in an associated slide library site. At block 1115, adetermination is made as to whether a synchronized slide file is checkedby the slide presentation application against a corresponding originalslide file contained in an associated slide library site formodifications to the original slide file. If no check of a synchronizedslide file is performed, the routine proceeds to block 1195 and ends.

If a check of a synchronized slide file is performed, the routineproceeds to block 1120, and the slide presentation application follows apath between the synchronized slide in the slide presentation documentand an original slide file in the associated slide library site of whichthe synchronized slide in the slide presentation application document isa copy. As should be appreciated, following the path to the originalslide file may include passing a data call from the slide presentationapplication to the original slide file requesting a return data itemassociated with the modification timestamp. At block 1125, adetermination is made by the slide presentation application as towhether a new version of the original slide file exists. That is, if thedata call to the original slide file results in a determination that themodification timestamp has changed, at block 1125, the slidepresentation application may request a version state from the originalslide file.

If the version of the original slide file has not changed, the routineproceeds to block 1195 and ends. However, if a new version of theoriginal slide file is stored in the slide library site, the routineproceeds to block 1130, and the user/editor of the slide presentation isqueried to determine whether the new version of the original slide filecontained in the slide library site should be inserted into the slidepresentation as a replacement for the corresponding slide contained inthe slide presentation document. If the user/editor does not desire toreplace the slide in the slide presentation document with the newversion of the original slide file, the routine proceeds to block 1195and ends. If the user does desire to replace the slide contained in theslide presentation document with the new version of the original slidefile, the routine proceeds to block 1135, and the new version of theoriginal slide file is copied to the slide presentation document forreplacing the corresponding slide in the slide presentation document.The routine ends at block 1195.

As described herein, embodiments of the present invention are directedto methods, systems, and computer products for storing and using slidepresentation slides. It will be apparent to those skilled in the artthat various modifications or variations may be made in the presentinvention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention.Other embodiments of the invention will be apparent to those skilled inthe art from consideration of the specification and practice of theinvention disclosed herein.

1. A method of managing content of slide files in a slide presentationapplication, comprising inserting a copy of an original slide filecontained in a slide library into a slide presentation document;establishing a synchronization relationship between the copy of theoriginal slide file inserted into the slide presentation document andthe original slide file contained in the slide library; monitoring astate of the original slide file contained in the slide library via thesynchronization relationship; and if a new version of the original slidefile contained in the slide library is available, replacing the copy ofthe original slide file in the slide presentation document with a copyof the new version of the original slide file.
 2. The method of claim 1,prior to inserting a copy of an original slide file contained in a slidelibrary into a slide presentation document, further comprising:receiving a slide presentation document; and receiving a request forinserting a slide file into the slide presentation document from a slidelibrary containing one or more slide files.
 3. The method of claim 1,whereby establishing a synchronization relationship between the copy ofthe original slide file inserted into the slide presentation documentand the original slide file contained in the slide library includesencoding in the copy of the original slide file a path to the originalslide file contained in the slide library and a date stamp associatedwith a last modification date for the original slide file.
 4. The methodof claim 3, whereby monitoring the state of the original slide file viathe synchronization relationship includes monitoring the state of theoriginal slide file via the path to the original slide file and the datestamp associated with the last modification date for the original slidefile.
 5. The method of claim 4, if the date stamp associated with thelast modification date for the original slide file changes, determiningwhether a new version of the original slide file is available.
 6. Themethod of claim 5, prior to replacing the copy of the original slidefile in the slide presentation document with a copy of the new versionof the original slide file, providing a notification that a new versionof the original slide file is available.
 7. The method of claim 6,whereby providing a notification that a new version of the originalslide file is available includes providing a notification in a graphicaluser interface.
 8. The method of claim 6, further comprising receiving aselection for replacing the copy of the original slide file in the slidepresentation document with a copy of the new version of the originalslide file.
 9. A computer readable medium containing computer executableinstructions which when executed by a computer perform a method ofmanaging content of slide files in a slide presentation application,comprising receiving a slide presentation document; receiving a requestfor inserting a slide file into the slide presentation document from aslide library containing one or more slide files; inserting a copy of anoriginal slide file contained in the slide library into the slidepresentation document; establishing a synchronization relationshipbetween the copy of the original slide file inserted into the slidepresentation document and the original slide file contained in the slidelibrary, including encoding in the copy of the original slide file apath to the original slide file contained in the slide library and adate stamp associated with a last modification date for the originalslide file; monitoring the state of the original slide file via the pathto the original slide file and the date stamp associated with the lastmodification date for the original slide file; and if a new version ofthe original slide file contained in the slide library is available,replacing the copy of the original slide file in the slide presentationdocument with a copy of the new version of the original slide file. 10.The computer readable medium of claim 9, whereby if the date stampassociated with the last modification date for the original slide filechanges, determining whether a new version of the original slide file isavailable.
 11. The computer readable medium of claim 10, prior toreplacing the copy of the original slide file in the slide presentationdocument with a copy of the new version of the original slide file,providing a notification that a new version of the original slide fileis available.
 12. The computer readable medium of claim 11, wherebyproviding a notification that a new version of the original slide fileis available includes providing a notification in a graphical userinterface.
 13. A computer readable medium containing computer executableinstructions which when executed by a computer perform a method ofmanaging content of slide files in a slide presentation application,comprising inserting a copy of an original slide file contained in aslide library into a slide presentation document; establishing asynchronization relationship between the copy of the original slide fileinserted into the slide presentation document and the original slidefile contained in the slide library; monitoring a state of the originalslide file contained in the slide library via the synchronizationrelationship; and if a new version of the original slide file containedin the slide library is available, replacing the copy of the originalslide file in the slide presentation document with a copy of the newversion of the original slide file.
 14. The computer readable medium ofclaim 13, prior to inserting a copy of an original slide file containedin a slide library into a slide presentation document, furthercomprising: receiving a slide presentation document; and receiving arequest for inserting a slide file into the slide presentation documentfrom a slide library containing one or more slide files.
 15. Thecomputer readable medium of claim 13, whereby establishing asynchronization relationship between the copy of the original slide fileinserted into the slide presentation document and the original slidefile contained in the slide library includes encoding in the copy of theoriginal slide file a path to the original slide file contained in theslide library and a date stamp associated with a last modification datefor the original slide file.
 16. The computer readable medium of claim15, whereby monitoring the state of the original slide file via thesynchronization relationship includes monitoring the state of theoriginal slide file via the path to the original slide file and the datestamp associated with the last modification date for the original slidefile.
 17. The computer readable medium of claim 16, whereby if the datestamp associated with the last modification date for the original slidefile changes, determining whether a new version of the original slidefile is available.
 18. The computer readable medium of claim 17, priorto replacing the copy of the original slide file in the slidepresentation document with a copy of the new version of the originalslide file, providing a notification that a new version of the originalslide file is available.
 19. The computer readable medium of claim 18,whereby providing a notification that a new version of the originalslide file is available includes providing a notification in a graphicaluser interface.
 20. The computer readable medium of claim 19, furthercomprising receiving a selection for replacing the copy of the originalslide file in the slide presentation document with a copy of the newversion of the original slide file.